


The Vampire, The Witch, and The Werewolf: Halloween Run

by NanashiJones



Category: Original Work
Genre: Candy, Exes, F/F, Halloween, Pumpkins, Shopping, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 03:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanashiJones/pseuds/NanashiJones
Summary: What's a 400 year old vampire nursing a broken heart supposed to do when the Halloween season rolls around? Get dragged on a run for Halloween supplies by her werewolf roommate, of course!





	The Vampire, The Witch, and The Werewolf: Halloween Run

Isolde opened her eyes to the sound of approaching commotion and sighed.

She'd avoided it all through last month, and the month prior. But she'd known, just like the rising sun that sent her to sleep every morning, it was inevitable. And now, it was here.

And by it, Isolde meant Katie.

Katie burst into Isolde's room, wearing a tank top and gym shorts in defiance of the autumn chill. "This Is Halloween" blared from the iPod in her hand.

Isolde turned cold, dead eyes on Katie. "You are the most basic, Hot Topic bitch, ever," she announced.

"It's October 1st!" Katie countered, as she danced around Isolde's bed. "Halloween Season… is HEEYAH!"

Isolde winced and pulled a pillow over her face. The only thing worse than a werewolf roommate, was an energetic, overly-friendly, _ loud _ werewolf roommate. As the sounds of Katie's "happy dance" continued, Isolde started to suspect she was actually a were-golden retriever.

"And you promised," Katie said, snatching away Isolde's pillowy barrier, "that you're coming on a Halloween Run with me."

Isolde glowered intensely, but Katie was cheerfully immune to negativity in all forms. "I remember no such promise," she said, intent on staying in bed. With her comfy sheets. And Netflix. And very not outside.

Katie pulled out her phone, thumbed the screen, and hit a button. "-yes, yes! I will go on your Halloween Run if you get off my bed- those sheets are _ silk _ and you are _ shedding all _ ** _over_ ** _ \- _!" She hit the button again.

"Where the hell was your phone?" Isolde said, propping herself on one arm.

"Living room. Charity recorded it for me," Katie said, returning her phone to her shorts as the music continued from the iPod in her other hand. "She'd been working up a divination spell earlier, and she wanted to try it out."

"Damn witch," Isolde grumbled.

"Yes! And damn vampire!" Katie said, pointing at Isolde. "Who is going on the official Spooky House Halloween Run with me, the damn werewolf! Because this. Is. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!" Katie chanted along to the music, pumping her fist.

"Oh God, just stake me now," Isolde groaned, flopping back and pushing the heels of her hands into her eyes.

Katie declined. 

Despite her protests, Isolde was a creature of her word. So she rolled out of bed and down to the kitchen table, to sit across from her other roommate. Charity was better dressed than Katie in a white blouse with pin-striped vest and pants, her heavy biker boots thumping as she idly tapped her foot. Rather than engaging in Katie's exuberant Halloween mood, Charity was absorbed in eating leftover pizza and reading a massive book almost as old as Isolde.

Katie pattered around behind them in the kitchen. She'd switched her music to "The Monster Mash."

"You could stop this," Isolde pleaded, as Katie placed Isolde's usual blood smoothie in front of her. "You were the witness."

"Nah. It's too funny," Charity replied, with a grin, not looking up.

"I will break the lease. Kick you both out," Isolde threatened.

"Oh please," Charity said, rolling her eyes. "Pull the other one."

Isolde dialed up her glower to full-on Murder.

Isolde's irritability wasn't even worth Charity looking up from her book. While she didn't have Katie's cheerful-shield, Charity was a witch. Witches don't even flinch if a demon showed up on the doorstep. Which, Isolde knew, because one had done just that last February.

As Isolde dejectedly picked up her glass of breakfast, she considered that when she'd put out her "Roommates Wanted" ad on the Cryptinet, she should've screened for more easily intimidated roommates.

"Look, Old Lace, if you didn't want this to happen, you should have left your room more often," Charity said, in mock-admonishment.

"I leave my room," Isolde replied, tart.

"Going to pee and checking the hallway table for mail does not count," Charity said. She looked up for the first time, and her expression was part sympathy, part exasperation. "Tonya's gone. Considering the number of break-ups I can only _ guess _ you've gone through in the last four centuries, it's really time you got over this one."

Isolde narrowed her eyes. "This _ is _ me getting over it. I'm…" she gestured vaguely, "working through my emotions on my own terms. I did the same thing back in… uh." She tapped a finger on her glass, frowning. "Dammit. What was her name…?"

Isolde tried to remember the last break-up that had been this bad, but the details were fuzzy. All she could remember was a rebellion. Rebecca? No. It was the jitterbug. Wait no, that was Shannon. Or another Rebecca.

She shook her head. Four hundred plus years was too much memory to sort through in one go.

"Never mind," she said. "What matters is I took my time, _ then _ . And _ now _ there's things like Netflix, and video games, and one-day delivery, so I don't _ need _ to rush."

"It's been a _ year _," Charity retorted. "So, unless you experience time differently, in addition to more of it, you've definitely avoided the rush, Old Lace."

Isolde blanched. Of course Charity remembered little details, like dates. Damn witch had a brain like a damn computer.

Tilting her chin up, Isolde replied, "A year is barely a drop in the ocean of my dark, immortal life." She attempted to affect an air of age and maturity. Charity was as unimpressed with this as she had been with Isolde's glower. Isolde blamed it on looking perpetually twenty.

Katie dropped into the seat between them. "Okay, so I'm getting, like, three bags of Reese's cups, because they're perfect," she said. "Any requests?"

"Ooooo, I like mini Kit Kats," Charity said. "If they don't have that- Milky Ways."

"Yessss! This place is gonna be a chocolate explosion," Katie said, pulling out her phone and adding the candy to her shopping list. "You, Izzy?"

"Don't call me Izzy," Isolde said. At this point in their roommate relationship, it was practically an automatic response.

"Should she call you Carmilla?" Charity said, eyes innocent and smile nothing but mischief.

Isolde glared at her. "I don't eat candy," she said to Katie.

"But I saw you eat befo-"

"I don't want to eat candy, _ now _," Isolde replied, flailing her arms.

"Okay…" Katie said, raising her hands in surrender. "Mixed bag it is for Izzy. You wanna come with us, Charity?"

"Nah. I'm gonna decorate," Charity said. She interlocked her fingers and pushed her palms out, knuckles cracking. "Got some new spells I think could make this place THE trick-or-treater's paradise."

Isolde raised a hand to volunteer with decorations, but Charity added, "And it'll come together better if I can do it solo."

Katie nodded while Isolde scowled. "Fair enough. C'mon, Izzy, finish your breakfast, get some clothes on, and we can get going!"

"Don't call me Izzy. And what I'm wearing is--" Isolde stopped her protest, arrested by Charity's cheshire grin.

Surely she had… But, when she bothered to actually look down at herself, she sighed and rubbed her face "Okay. _ Maybe _ I could stand to change my routine. A little."

"It's okay, Izzy," Katie said, putting a hand over hers. "I sometimes forget clothes, too. Though, usually only after a long night all wolfed out."

* * *

Dressed in black slacks and a baggy red sweater, Isolde settled into the passenger seat of Katie's little blue Honda Civic. Katie had thrown on a bright yellow hoodie and flip flops. Isolde thought Katie's wardrobe choices were almost as annoying as the Munsters' Theme song, which started blaring the moment Katie started the car.

The ride to Target was mercifully short, exposing Isolde to only a few selections from Katie's playlist. However, the evening was still early, which meant there were plenty of people still out shopping. Which meant there were plenty of living pulses to grind on Isolde's nerves, despite a cushioning stomach-full of blood.

As she took a moment to center, to dial her awareness of every pulse back to a more tolerable level, Isolde grudgingly allowed that maybe, _ maybe _ her roommates had a point about leaving her room. Once in a while.

Not helping matters was that the whole store seemed to share Katie's Halloween mood. "Ghostbusters" played over the speakers.

"Oh for-!" Isolde snarled. "This isn't even a Halloween song!"

"But it's a staple," Katie argued, as she grabbed a basket. "Like, Thriller, Time Warp-"

"Thriller, I will allow," Isolde growled. "But what about... Season of the Witch, or All Souls Night, or... Come To the Labyrinth?"

"Come to the who now?" Katie asked.

"You know, Come to the Labyrinth."

Katie just stared at her, blankly.

"Come to the Labyrinth," Isolde said slowly. "You know, by-" Isolde stopped. Blinked. Closed her eyes. Then exhaled, slumping a bit. She hadn't thought about that song since, well, about this time last year.

Tonya had introduced it to her. She thought Isolde might like the mood and tone it conveyed, and she'd been right. But Isolde didn't want to be reminded of it now. Especially when she had to… be people.

"S.J. Tucker. Not mainstream, but good," Isolde muttered. "Now where's the damn candy? I want to get this over with." She oriented on the scent of chocolate and sugar, and strode off with purpose.

The seasonal section took up a sizeable portion of the store. Orange banners and plastic skeletons invited customers to the back with their siren call of spooky promises. The candy and decoration aisles of the Halloween area were no joke.

"Jackpot," Katie whispered with the same awe Isolde usually ascribed to the religiously devout.

Katie dove in to hit every "Try Me" button attached to a cheap, goofy display. Skeleton DJ B0n3z bellowed dad jokes, a possessed phone shrieked at being hung up, a large plastic eyeball blinked from a small plastic cauldron, and Katie drank it all in, ecstatically.

Isolde, who wouldn't be caught dead (well, dead-er) with any of that in her house, took the basket from Katie's grip and efficiently grabbed the candy bags Charity and Katie had discussed earlier. Objective completed, she turned to Katie to usher her toward the registers, but Katie had moved on to ogling the non-electronic decorations. Isolde could tell she would be shooed away, at best, and growled at, at worst, for rushing her.

She wondered if Katie would consider her AWOL if she disappeared to the video game section. Her Switch controllers _ were _ getting worn out, again, after all, and-- What?

Isolde froze.

She heard… a heartbeat. One that she knew well enough to pick out from the ebb and flow of any crowd, and that stood out from the familiar, nearby thunder of Katie's. This heartbeat was unique. Singular. In all the heartbeats, in all the world, Isolde knew this heartbeat… It was Tonya's.

And it was closing in.

Isolde dropped the basket in the middle of the aisle and made a beeline for Katie, who was giggling over a werewolf skeleton. She grabbed Katie's arm and started manhandling her toward the front of the store.

"Hey, whoa-!" Katie exclaimed. "What's with the vamp strength?"

"We're leaving," Isolde said, trying to look around without _ looking _ like she was looking around. Where was she, where was- ah. Isolde turned and hurried away from Tonya's heartbeat as quickly as she could.

Katie looked worried. "What's wrong? Do you need to feed again? Oh shit, I should've asked before we left, and-"

"Kathryn!" Isolde said, teeth clenched, giving Katie a little shake. "I hear Tonya. She's in the store."

Katie blinked. Her nose twitched. "Oh. Whup. Okay, yeah, I can smell her perfume."

Isolde remembered Tonya's perfume well. She had spent a few weeks, just after the break-up sleeping curled around one of Tonya's shirts that still held the scent. Until, on a particularly rough night, she'd gotten angry and thrown it in the wash with a cup and a half of bleach. 

"Uh, so… we can come back," Katie said, matching Isolde's rapid pace toward the exit. "We'll just go hit up the pumpkin patch first!"

"Pumpkin patch? This was a candy run!" Isolde snapped. She jerked them to the side and down a random aisle. As if Tonya might just pop out of the junior's section like that goblin Jack-in-the-Box Katie had been playing with.

Katie frowned. "It's a Halloween Run. That means, candy _ and _ pumpkins," she insisted.

Isolde made a face. "Fine. Fine. Pumpkin."

"Pump- _ kinsz. _Then we come back," Katie said.

Isolde glared Murder.

Katie set her hands on her hips. "Dude. If you wanna avoid your ex, I get it. But we are not going home without pumpkins _ and _ candy."

Isolde scrunched her eyes shut. "Fine! Pumpkins _ and _ candy!" she yelled.

"Isolde?"

If any of the other shoppers had been watching the kinda goth-looking chick having a meltdown, it would have seemed as if she simply disappeared. A mysterious shade, gone to the night.

If any of the other shoppers were not quite human like Katie, they would have seen the vampire racing into the parking lot like a duck with its ass on fire.

As she jogged after her roommate, Katie spotted Tonya at the far end of the store looking confusedly around. She must have heard Isolde shouting. It seemed like everyone in the store must have heard her, they way they were looking about.

Katie sighed. "Grow a spine, you undead nerd," she muttered, as she passed through the automatic doors.

* * *

At the pumpkin patch, Katie parked the car and turned off the ignition, saving Isolde from any more of MC Hammer's "Addams Family Groove."

"So, I'm thinking a big one for the porch, two smaller ones for the window sills," Katie announced, looking out at the dimly lit fields. It may have been only October 1st, but Mason's Farm believed in getting the pumpkins to people as early as possible. Because then, when the first round rotted, customers came back for another.

"Why not ceramic- no chance of them going moldy," Isolde suggested, before remembering that she was supposed to be against this whole thing. Hearing Tonya's heartbeat on her first real trip outside since the breakup had really unnerved her. She was jumpy, distracted, and consequently, not as invested in being as contrary as she had intended.

Katie grinned hugely, clearly delighted that Isolde was engaging. Isolde quickly arranged her features into a scowl.

"Good point, Izzy," Katie said, entering the patch between two bales of hay. "But Charity said she can do a spell to help keep 'em fresh. Remember last year's big pumpkin? That _ you _ picked out?"

Isolde clenched her jaw. "Keep pushing," she said. "I will run off and-"

"And Charity will bar you from the house with one of her biggest wards," Katie promised.

Isolde stopped, rubbing her face. "Why?" she demanded.

Katie turned. "Huh?"

"Why? Why this farce? Why the promise?" Isolde snapped. "I have missed _ decades _ for one reason or another, and no one made me put up with this- this- this kind of intrusion! So _ why?! _"

Katie rested her hands in her hoodie's pockets, and looked at Isolde as if she was demanding to know why water was wet.

"We're your friends," she said, simply. "We thought it stunk that your break up hit you so bad, and we wanted you to get out a little. We figured Halloween might do the trick because it's your fave-"

"Was," Isolde cut her off, then looked away.

Katie raised an eyebrow.

Isolde sighed. "Tonya dumped me on Halloween, last year," Isolde said, crossing her arms. "You can... understand my lack of enthusiasm this year."

Katie blinked, and Isolde could see her putting together the pieces from last fall. When they noticed Tonya wasn't coming around, when Isolde was just… in more, when Isolde had actually told them. Isolde was a private person, but her roommates were nosy types. Still, she had managed to avoid revealing the exact date of her last real relationship's demise. Till now.

And, now, since Katie knew, she'd blab to Charity. There would be more knowing looks and a damn witch meddling in Isolde's life even more, now, and-

"Oh shit. Oh… shit," Katie stuttered. "Aw, Izzy…"

"Don't call me that," Isolde said, brushing past Katie. "Let's find our pumpkins and go."

Katie sighed and followed in her wake.

* * *

Isolde picked two medium ones for the window. Despite Katie saying she could pick them, Isolde insisted that if they were going to decorate _ her _ house, they were going to do it properly.

As they stood in line at the checkout stand, the wind changed and Isolde jerked her head up.

"What?" Katie asked, a massive pumpkin held easily in her hands.

"Tonya. Now _ I _ can smell her perfume," Isolde whispered. She looked around. Had she followed them?! She couldn't hear her heartbeat. 

"Dude, she's not here," Katie said.

"I smell her perfume," Isolde insisted.

Katie's expression pinched. "It's… not coming from Tonya." She averted her gaze quickly, but Isolde had seen her scrutinizing the muscled woman in denim and flannel staffing the cash box. And Isolde knew to trust Katie's sense of smell over hers.

The cashier was tall, with handsome features and short, brown hair. She flashed a genuine smile as she checked out the family in front of them. Isolde grudgingly granted that it was a charming smile.

"I will be in the car," Isolde reported woodenly, turning to add her pumpkins to Katie's pile.

"Ooooooh no," Katie said, frowning. "Avoiding your ex? Sure, reasonable. Well, not exactly the way you reacted, but I _ get _ it. Running away from a random person who has the same perfume? No way, vamp-ay. Get your tiny tush over there and help me pay for these pumpkins."

"I will do no such- don't you- quit pushing me-! Hello," Isolde said, as her interfering roommate user her oversized gourd to shove her to the front.

"Howdy," she said, raising her baseball cap. "I was about to ask if you two needed help, but it looks like you have it well in hand."

"Crossfit!" Katie said. Because she always said it when someone commented on her unusual strength.

Isolde rolled her eyes. "We would like to purchase these," she said, holding up her picks and pointing to Katie's with her chin.

"Okay, just drop 'em on the scale, one at a time, and we'll get you sorted," the cashier said.

Katie weighed hers first. As Isolde put her second pumpkin on the scale, some morbid instinct forced her to blurt out, "That's… an interesting scent you're wearing." 

"Scent? I'm not--" the cashier said, then suddenly sniffed the collar of her shirt and blushed. "Oh! That's… heh. That's from this girl I'm seeing. Guess some of it rubbed off." She rubbed the back of her neck. The blush rising in her cheeks matched her rising heart rate.

Isolde's lips pressed into a bloodless line. Katie began to look slightly panicked.

"She's a great girl. I'm real lucky," the cashier added, as she ran up their total.

"Oh really. What's she like?" Isolde asked, ignoring Katie, who was trying to stab her with an elbow.

As she thought, the woman's heart rate changed again. No longer aroused, it was becoming sedate. Calmed. Both excited and comforted at the thought of… the girl she was seeing.

"Huh? Oh, she's… well. Kinda my opposite, really," the cashier mused. "Curvy, nice hair, green eyes like you wouldn't believe."

Isolde only half heard it. Her attention was on the cashier's blood. Rising and falling with each beat of her heart. It was the song that Isolde craved, and one that she knew. The woman was in love. With her Tonya.

"But adventurous, y'know?" the woman continued, oblivious. "She wakes me up, and you need that. How you know you're livin'." She grinned, blushing again. "Don't mind me- I'm a bit of a sap. Your total's gonna be $42 after tax."

"I don't mind," Isolde said, keeping her voice carefully neutral. She nodded and handed over the cash, much to Katie's shock.

Isolde stared at the woman across from her. Solid in a way she was not. Present in a way she was not. Alive in a way that had nothing to do with a pulse.

"Thank you… for being so frank," she added.

"Just who I am," the cashier replied. "Sure y'all don't need- okaaaaay, never mind." She set her hands on her hips and grinned as Katie lifted all three pumpkins and urgently began trying to herd Isolde back to the car. "I may have to give that crossfit stuff a shot."

"It works wonders," Isolde said, rolling her eyes. "Have a nice night."

"Plannin' on it. Headin' to see my lady soon as Hans gets up here. Y'all have a Happy Halloween! Come back soon!"

Isolde nodded in acknowledgment and walked silently back to the car in Katie's wake.

* * *

"We'll make this quick, okay?" Katie said, even though they'd managed to hit every single red light on the way back.

"Mmm," Isolde replied, glancing up at the Target again. Its lights looked… less intense, somehow.

They went back into the store, and Katie made a beeline for the candy section. Isolde followed aimlessly along, her awareness of the sounds around her muted by her ruminations.

Namely, what had happened back there with the cashier? She was a damn vampire. Full of age and power. And, despite all that, she just felt like a jilted teenager.

Isolde rubbed at her eyes. "I've danced with royalty," she muttered. She watched Katie angst over which size bag of mini Kit Kats to get. "And here I am…"

She sighed. If not for Katie and Charity conspiring to drag her out, she'd still be back in her bed. Which she _ thought _had been helping, but tonight proved that was as much a fantasy as her love life.

Her roommates were right. She should get out more. No, she _ needed _ to get out more. It forced her to deal with the fact that things were going to remind her of her ex. She couldn't just go around, getting testy or mopey at every little hint of Tonya's existence. After all, if just some songs and perfume worked her up, how would she react if she ran into-

"Isolde?"

Isolde froze, completely. Breathing was for other people.

"Wow, I didn't expect to see you here."

Mustering more strength than she thought she possessed, Isolde turned. And she was amazed to confirm that after a night of perfect attenuation, perfect awareness, her heightened sense of hearing had failed to alert her to the presence of the one person she'd been trying to avoid.

Tonya hadn't changed much in the last year. She'd grown her hair out some and put a blond streak in it. But she was still curvy and big eyed, wearing the kind of flashy makeup that always made Isolde feel clumsy for just picking up an eyeliner pencil. She was perfect.

Somewhat frozen in shock, Isolde instinctively gathered 400 years of composure around her like armor and inclined her head. "Yes, hello, Tonya," she said, clearing her throat. "My roommate needed... " She gestured at Katie, who had taken an intense interest in the Mars bars. "She needed supplies."

Tonya nodded, her thick, curly hair bobbing with her. She smiled sympathetically at Isolde. "Well, I'm glad to see you out. I'd heard-" Tonya laughed. "Well, more like I _ hadn't _ heard about you in a while. I was kind of worried."

Isolde raised an imperious eyebrow. "Give me some credit, Tonya. I'm over four hundred years old."

Tonya laughed. "Right, right. Sorry. Just wanted to be sure you were-." But her eyes slid to the side, over Isolde's shoulder. Isolde heard Tonya's heartbeat pick up speed, and a heart that echoed that acceleration approached from behind.

Isolde turned. It was the cashier from the pumpkin patch. Happy Goddamn Halloween.

Looking back to Isolde, Tonya flushed and said, "Okay. That's... Erin. And she's, well."

Isolde was too burned out to play the game. She raised a hand. "Say no more. I… am glad you've found someone else."

Tonya blinked, peering up at Isolde. "Seriously?" she asked.

"For all my failings in our relationship, Tonya, I know hearts," Isolde said, as Erin stepped up. "And yours is in good hands, I can tell."

Glancing at Isolde, Erin pecked a kiss on top of Tonya's head and held up a basket. "Found the razors you needed. Got the candy?"

"Not yet," Tonya said. "I kinda bumped into-"

"Isolde Montclair," Isolde said, offering her hand to Erin. Erin took it, the grip callused and firm. "We're already acquainted, though I never was properly introduced."

Tonya blinked between the two, as Erin grinned.

"Yea. Name's Erin," she said. Looking to Tonya she added, "She was just in the patch. Also, not to be rude, but _ dang girl _ maybe you should wear more layers." Erin shook her hand as she retrieved it. "Y'all're cold as ice."

"An eternal struggle," Isolde replied, diplomatically. Changing subjects, she said quickly, "If I may make a recommendation?" She reached over and plucked a large bag of candy corn from the displays. "When it comes to Halloween candy, these are Tonya's favorite."

"Oh shit, mine too," Erin said, taking the bag eagerly. She blushed, looking to Tonya. "Is it stupid I think it's nice we both like this stuff?"

Tonya blushed in return. "No. I think it's sweet." She pecked Erin on the cheek, then realized Isolde was still there.

Isolde smiled again, firmly keeping her fangs tucked behind her lips. "I think my roommate needs assistance with her decision. May I wish you two a lovely evening and part ways?"

Erin chuckled. "Thanks. We do need to get going. We got that couple's dinner class thing."

"Shit, right," Tonya said, thumping her forehead in that way Isolde had always found endearing. "Isolde, I'm so sorry, but-"

"No need. Take care," Isolde said, inclining her head again. "Both of you."

"Nice meetin' ya!" Erin said, as she and Tonya walked away hand in amicable hand.

As they faded from view, Isolde could still hear them. "Wow, hun. That was your ex?"

"Yeah…" Tonya said.

"I can see why you liked her. But…" her voice dropped, "I can also see why you left. Seems nice enough though," Erin said.

"She is. I just hope she finds..." Tonya's reply become muffled by distance as they neared the checkout lanes.

Isolde forced herself to stop trying to listen. Katie edged close to her. "Uh… I kinda heard-slash-smelled all of that," she said. "You- urk!"

Isolde had yanked Katie close, the image comical: her waifish figure manhandling Katie's large frame. Through clenched teeth, she said, "Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses."

"Huh?" Katie said.

"Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses," Isolde repeated. "The candy in the black and orange wrappers that everyone calls 'grandma candy.' I was the bigger person, _ twice _in the same night, and now you're going to get me many bags of confectionary."

Katie smiled a little. "Sure. Sure! Anything else?"

Isolde was quiet, then: "Box wine. And… Let's watch Hocus Pocus." She released her death grip on Katie's hoodie. "I think I need a distraction tonight. With company," she added.

"Like… full Spooky House company company?" Katie asked, peering at Isolde.

"Like…" Isolde looked away. "This was my holiday," she said.

Katie tilted her head.

"And I thought Tonya took that from me, but really, I just took it from myself." Isolde sighed.

"Well, it's still here," Katie offered. "And you know how I feel about it."

Isolde rolled her eyes. "Like a dog feels about a bone," she said. Looking back to Katie she shooed her. "Now be a good girl and fetch my candy. I shall retrieve a good red blend. Then, we checkout, and movie!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Katie replied brightly, and saluted as she dashed back into the candy aisles.

Back in the car, Isolde was already on her fourth piece of Mary Jane's. "Secrets of the Undersea Bell" by Astronautilus was playing. The whole world felt less overwhelming already.

"After Hocus Pocus, I begin your _ true _ All Hallow's education, Kathryn," Isolde announced.

Katie cocked her head. "Oh?"

"Yes. You clearly need more Vincent Price in your life," Isolde said, and put another peanut butter candy in her mouth. "Just as The Spooky House's resident vampire… needs her damn witch. And her werewolf friend."

Katie smiled brightly. "Aw, Izzy!"

"Don't call me that," Isolde said, automatically, and Katie drove them home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my little bit of original fluff for Halloween! I plan on more to come.
> 
> Forever thanks to my alpha editor, NamelessBaroness. You always save my broken heart, honey. ::kiss::


End file.
